Tag: tumbling dice miniatures

Categories
wargame shows wargaming

Virtual VAP2021

I thought I might console myself with a virtual VAP this year via this site. So first up is something about traders.

Vapnartak is run by York Wargames Society volunteers and has a sizeable trader attendance. The York Racecourse site allows plenty of space although the organisers always ensure we all just about fit in!

In more recent times breakout space has improved yet I get the impression the number of traders remains unchanged? Maybe some of the games space has reduced. I am not sure on that.

The traders I have most often shopped with over the years have included

Caliver Books have always given me a steady supply of books and especially rule books.

Currently preoccupied with mid 19th century warfare, I plan to use Brent Omans Piquet bought from Caliver Books.

I have also dipped into their figures occasionally plus the odd terrain purchase. At the show Caliver are the nearest thing to a street general wargames store before they became gaming cafes or just cafes and now just empty buildings!

These cast and painted buildings from Caliver Books have proved their worth in 2020 in my Saxon, Norman, Viking and Roman Britain outings.

Dave Lanchesters books have been a great source of the older Ospreys and I have often picked up Pen & Sword or Helion publications at great prices.

Many of these Ospreys have been bought at Dave’s store at various shows, all sadly missed.

And Dave has some really excellent condition out of print books.

Irregular Miniatures provide simply a vast range of figures and items that is staggering. Always something tempting to buy.

No pic, I hope to have some news in another post in Irregular.

Magister Militum, Westwind/Forged in Battle and Museum Miniatures have been my preferred 15mm suppliers – mainly ancients.

Forged in Battle command pack, detail is excellent.

All their figures have character despite their small size. I owned some 6mm Naploeonics back in the day but never got the bug so 15mm is as small as I go.

Museum Miniatures “Red Guard” drive off some pesky out of production Corvus Belli Cathaginians. Museum Miniatures got me into 15mm.

Funnily enough Peter Pig is another 15mm supplier yet it is his rules I have loved over the years – RFCM (Rules for the Common Man) remain the only other ruleset for pick up games I automatically think of for WW2 outings aside from my house rules based on the venerable Don Featherstone offerings. OK I do own Too Fat Lardies rules which really are the most engaging game rules in my view. However I have to be in the mood to play them!

Peter Pigs Bloody Barons have also found out my interest in the past although the figure scale has been 28mm or even Mike Tittensor’s SOA Bronze Age deriviative that saw 1/72 plastics take the field.

Peter Pig gave excellent pre game rules in their Wars of the Roses ruleset.

S&A Scenics have given me some excellent scenery of the “precise” kind and which give a nice “gamey” feel to a table top.

That clipped grass and trees from S&A Scenics just cries out for some shiney victorian era soldiers
S&A Scenics do offer some nice crossover trees as well

In stark contrast Last Valley offer you trees and hedgerows which do feel very realistic to me. I like both – and yes use both together on occasion!

Last Valley make some nice pieces that often appear in my games.
Many a time this last valley copse has held a unit or some piece of armour

Sally 4th have offered various companies products and I have often bought the Foreground pre coloured laser cut wood kits along with original citadel paints.

The detail on these buildings is so fine it is wasted in the gaming context at 3 feet or 1 metre. Mind you Foregrounds view on chiminies just does not chime with the rest of these exquisite models!

Dice are always in demand even if I don’t need them. The Dice Shop does what it says!

Pendraken Miniatures have also yielded some nice dice and I invariably get my bases from them. Alas their delightful figure ranges are just too small for me.

you can never have too many Pendraken bases in store!

I have a soft spot for 1/72 or small 25mm or large 20mm (take your pick). So Tumbling Dice have supplied some nice Dark Age figures.

Scale has always been a problem – Lamming 1970’s 20/25mm norman/saxons bookend 4 Tumbling Dice 1/72 true scale Saxon/Norman foot command figures

Last but not least are Magnetic Displays although I always remember them as Coritani. I buy their paintbrushes and occasionally paints. While their range of terrain features are always compelling and Renedra plastics have often figured in my purchasing, I always obtain spear reinforcements from Trevor & Paula who I just find are simply the most helpful and engaging of traders.

You always need a store of gabions and versatile bridges! Yes this is very old stock I rediscovered – which means I have too much stuff.

And of course there was the “infamous?” bring & buy scrum alley where pitches were offered on a time restricted basis. I could never make up my mind if it was any better than an ordinary bring and buy, except it crucially saved the wargames club members acting as intermediaries – double handling cash and items.

I managed to make some purchases. I never bought bad due to the selling mechanism so thats a good thing.

Whatever your wargaming activity I hope you are able to support your favorite traders despite the pandemic and the decimation it has caused to so many people in so many ways.

Happy Wargaming.

Categories
1/72 scale figures lance and longbow society wargame shows wargaming

Recon-structing Recon

“Recon” in New Pudsey is run by the Wakefield & District wargamers and usually happens today – the first Saturday in December.

It is not the largest show on the circuit yet it has become a regular visit for me. There is always a decent selection of traders and a variety of games.

Pudsey Civic Hall is a relaxed venue with sufficient refreshments and plenty of seating plus parking (I travel by car) on site.

I have dropped by the Lance and Longbow Society (LLBS) stand for the last two years. I think they did the battle of Lewes in 2018 and last year they did the battle of Clifton Moor 1475. Its a participation game I always join in. The team are always very welcoming and really are there to throw the dice and get some pieces moving with any interested visitor.

snapshot of LLBS Clifton Moor battle thanks to storm of steel wargaming

I have no other photos except the headline one which shows tumbling dice 1/72 metallic command sets. I like the Saxon and Norman ones in particular.

ok a poor photo but you get the idea – these are nicely crafted 1/72 metals

On youtube “storm of steel wargaming” have posted a short video of the 2019 event. so you could do a quick “recon of recon” using it.

Storm of steel posted a 6 minute mini tour of Recon 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umgtgfri9VE

Here is hoping that in 2021 I will be able to visit this show again, assuming the Wakefield Gamers have the wherewithal to do it. I certainly hope so.

Categories
metal miniatures normans in the south

Metallic and Plastic Infantry for my Normans in the South

Having reviewed my thoughts on horsemen for my Normans in the South project I am going to take a quick look at infantry. Did you spot the SHQ 20mm in the lead photo?

For my command bases I plan to use Tumbling Dice Miniatures command packs which provide both mounted and foot options. These foot are respectively 2 normans to the left and 2 anglo saxons to the right.
here are a strelets norman at left and strelets anglo saxon to the right. The plastic and metal foot match well I think.
These are the tallest strelets anglo saxons I could find and the match between plastic and metal is again fine. Note their breadth is to frontface, so both products are thinner as you look along the line.
1970’s Garrison viking to left and Citadel Crusader to the right are ostensibly classic 25mm figures. They make the 1/72 scale Tumbling Dice guys look a bit small.
1970’s Lamming bigheaded anglo saxon on the left and norman on the right. Oh dear what was happening in the 1970’s!
The guy at left is an SHQ 20mm saracen archer. I picked these up at Newbury or Reading shows when I was after some newline figures in the flesh which turned out to be the wrong size for me. SHQ were there and I took some of their crusades range – really nice figures.The middle grey/red normans/saxons show that even within strelets there is a height and bulk variation – which I like
The SHQ archer is just that smidgen smaller than the TD norman but both seem less bulky and shorter than the strelets norman. I think once painted and based these minor differences in height/bulk will simply improve the look of the bases if anything
2010’s Perry burgundians (ironically plastic) show the morphing of 25mm to 28mm and beyond.

At least tumbling dice and SHQ are still offering metals in the traditional scales of 20/25mm and 1/72. And they carry good detail, have realistic posing and are not too bulky. I may mix in some command foot with strelets figures on some of my fighting bases.

Categories
metal miniatures

Normans in the South using 1/72 metallics

Without drifting too much into the issue of scale in wargaming, this post covers my solution regarding mixing metallics and plastics for my Normans in the South project.

So the lead in photo shows horsemen because this is where the most pronounced differences tend to show up.

left to right we have

Strelets 1/72 Norman cavalry

Tumbling Dice 1/72 Norman and Saxon cavalry (command figures!)

Citadel 25mm Mongol cavalry

Citadel 25mm Saracen cavalry

Lamming 25mm Norman Cavalry

Greenwood & Ball (Garrison) 25mm Viking Cavalry

Lancashire Games 25mm Malburian Cavalry

Typical BIG 28mm cavalry (ok he gets a base as well to make the point)

It is also worth noting the base thicknesses in these photos.

the small saracen then the big viking even bigger malburian and rather small saxon
1970’s citadel mongol and saracen plus Garrison viking show how the horse can influence size
The Tumbling Dice Norman horse could almost get by with the Lamming Norman yet the rider size especially the head suggests not. The Mongol horse is compatibale with the TD Norman horse but again the bulk of the figure suggests they will look wrong together
Things look slightly better head on for the cavalry

What I have found is that in the raw you notice height, bulk and head size. These then affect how you see the figures. Once painted and based the differences seem to be less pronounced.

I plan to use all these somehow!

The last shot shows – SHQ 20mm saracen; strelets 1/72 norman; Hatt 1/72 ElCid cavalry; Tumbling Dice 1/72 norman and lastly another Hatt 1/72 Hun.

Bases are similar thickness so no adjustment needed or to be exploited.

OK last point – my solution.

Using some maths – 12 inches or a foot being 304.8mm for my purposes. Now assuming someone 6 foot high you get the following in real height of 1828.8 mm; at 1:87 (HO) = 21mm; 1:76 (OO) = 24mm; 1:72=25mm; 1:65=28mm and 1:56=32mm (fractions ignored)

So marrying 20mm (1/87) and 25mm (1/72) figures should be tricky although apparently less than 25 to 28mm.

But here is the rub research by a top university shows that the average height of people living in england changed as follows.

167cm pre roman; 170cm roman; less during the dark ages (no figure given because it was dark!) 172cm circa 1066 and 173cm by the 1100’s. Then it drops until recovering to 173-174cm during the period 1400 to 1650. Heights then declined to less than 169cm by the 1800’s! by 1970 we were averaging 177cm.

So that means for a 1/72 warrior he could a 23mm celt; 23.6mm legionaire; 24 mm norman; or a 23mm british redcoat again in the 1800’s. In short averages throw up millimetre differences so actual variations in height will be even greater. So in 1/72 a 21mm (4foot 11inches) high figure next to a 24mm (5foot 11inches) high figure is possible. Add to that variations in helmet shape and size and freedom beckons.

Finally it really comes down to the figures you like, I like the SHQ Saracens, I like the tumbling dice norman and saxon commands and I like the strelets norman and saxons (yes with hands the size of heads!)

so my solution has to be : I will take some notice of scale, maybe more about bulk than height, and paint the figures I like. I can always squint at the jarring mismatches when they do happen.

Happy Painting & Wargaming.

postscript – scale creep was always with us and good enough in “charge or how to play wargames” anyway. Are those “half round lancers on ponies?”